Home > Arts and Entertainment > Roving reporter: Days 3 and 4 at Rothbury Music Festival

Roving reporter: Days 3 and 4 at Rothbury Music Festival

Neely Adkins,
Grand Central Magazine

On day four of the festival, crowds remained thick to see the festival's biggest names. Photograph by Neely Adkins
(Click here for more images.)

It’s Saturday (a.k.a. Dave Day) at Rothbury. I spent my morning at the indoor water park, along with about 750 other people. Even while waiting in line for the slides, people were talking about how pumped they were for Dave, and how surprised they were by Snoop.

After I dried myself off, I checked out reggae-folkster Citizen Cope. I had never heard them before, but I quickly took a liking to their music. The one thing everyone in the crowd couldn’t get over was that his mouth barely moved when he sang. If that’s the only thing bothering a crowd of close to 10,000, you know it was a good show.

After Citizen Cope, I made my way over to see jam band Slightly Stoopid. If you’ve ever heard them before, you already know that they play music that was made for laying out a blanket and taking in the sun. They didn’t play anything too fast and nothing too soft: just nice, lax music to chill out to.

I didn’t stay at Slightly Stoopid for too long, as I wanted to get a good spot for Dave Matthews Band, who performed two hours later. I was still about 30 feet from the stage, which allowed for decent pictures on my disposable camera.

The crowd of well over 40,000 was grooving for the entire two-and-a-half-hour set. I definitely wasn’t expecting to rock out to a four minute saxophone solo. But somehow everything they played was like electricity that powered everyone to move. I didn’t feel the soreness in my knees until I moved from the spot I was standing in, four hours after their first note sounded.

There’s still much more music to be played on Sunday, with John Mayer taking up the afternoon on the Ranch Arena stage.

Day Four

The final day of Rothbury was filled with mixed emotions. As I tore down my tent and jammed it in my bag, I couldn’t believe the weekend was over. Yet there was so much crammed into four days that it was hard to swallow; which could be due to the upper-respiratory infection I acquired from the sickening amount of second-hand smoke I was exposed to over the last three days.

My day started with an up-and-coming artist, Brett Dennen, who is currently touring with John Mayer. Mayer has been a big supporter of Dennen, both in getting him a record deal and as a main contributor to the amount of publicity Dennen is getting. (When I called Mayer’s publicist, they said that an interview with John wasn’t possible, but they encouraged me to investigate Dennen, which I did.)

Pop/Rock singer-songwriter John Mayer performing at the debut of Michigan's Rothbury festival this past Sunday to a crowd of 40,000. Photograph by Neely Adkins
(Click here for more images.)

Anyway, he put on a great show. His lyrics were on point, and his stage presence was impressive considering how new he is to the scene.

After Dennen’s set, I took a nap. Why? Because it was Sunday, and my body is trained to nap on that day. Day of rest? You bet. But I was sure to wake up at 5 p.m. for singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat.

Her set was refreshing because she was actually talking about the grounds and how pretty it was, and how she was afraid to get a sun burn. It was nice to see an artist that wasn’t in a haze of hallucinogens and could verify their location (see Snoop Dogg and the “East Lansing” incident).

Now the Dennen, Caillat and Mayer shows were all at one of the smaller stages. This caused some concern on my part, because I wanted to get a good spot since space was so limited.

So when I got to Caillat’s show a good half-hour early, I made sure to make friends around me (Hi, Monica and Laura!). It was a given that the people in the front for Caillat’s set would stay for Mayer’s set, so I had to settle with a spot about 15 feet from the front rail. Bummer.

This was my third time seeing John Mayer in the last two years, so I was pretty familiar with how he took his songs and made them spectacular with his solos. Yet, despite my familiarity, I gained a greater respect for the guy’s ability to play his instrument – though his face goes into “seizure mode” when he starts shredding.

Unfortunately, I had to take off after the Mayer set (which conveniently ended 45 minutes ahead of schedule. “I’m tired, “ Mayer said. Whatever.), so I couldn’t see the Phil Lesh and Friends set. Of course, there was a pretty big Phish fan base at the festival, and I heard it was quite an experience.

So after four days, three nights, 70 sets, and one wicked sun burn, my first-ever Rothbury Festival experience has come to a close. The success of the festival was clear within the first couple of days, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it will return next summer.